By
Rebecca Gibson |
Savona’s second Palacrociere passenger terminal was inaugurated on 8 November wwhen Costa Cruises’ newly christened flagship Costa Diadema made her maiden call at the port.
The terminal, which was built by Costa for €9 million, covers a total area of 3,000 sqm and has been designed as a satellite terminal. The terminal will be connected to the existing Palacrociere, so that it can use its services, but will also able to operate as a free-standing facility with its own waiting, transit and baggage handling areas. There will also be separate policing by the various authorities such as the police, Guardia di Finanza and customs.
Several firms from Liguria designed the terminal including architects Studio Vicini Architetti, who also contributed to the designs of the original Palacrociere and the Barcelona Palacruceros; Studio Tecnico Ingg. Montaldo e Canale; and CVD Progetti.
With the addition of the new terminal, the interior of the Palacrociere have expanded to 11,000 sqm, while the total area of the facility has been increased to 45,500 sqm.
Savona will be the main homeport for Costa Diadema, which will call at the Palacrociere every week until the end of the 2015 summer season in the Mediterranean, amounting to a total of 60 calls. The ship will offer seven-day cruises in the Mediterranean, including stopovers in Marseille, France; Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, Spain; and Naples and La Spezia in Italy.
In 2015, Costa plans to make 236 calls and more than one million passenger movements at the Palacrociere.
Costa began visiting Savona in November 1996 when Costa Riviera became the first Italian cruise ship to dock there. Since then, Costa, the Port Authority of Savona and local institutions have worked together to increase cruise traffic in the city, with Costa helping to co-finance the first Palacrociere passenger terminal, which opened on 24 November 2003 and is directly managed by the company.